A Previous Selection

Chapter Thirty-Eight

"Just one more song, please," Oliver begs, and I let out a playful sigh.

"Fine. But after this one, you have to go get your work done," I tell him, and he perks up.

"Yeah, of course. I promise."

"Okay. What song do you want to learn?"

"I was actually hoping I could just hear you play something."

"Really? Are you sure?" I ask, and he nods. "I thought you wanted to learn another song this week."

"Originally, I did. But after everything that's happened recently, I just want to sit back and listen to you play. Because you're the best out there."

"Well, thank you, Oli. That's really sweet."

"It's true. I can only hope to be as good as you one day," he says.

"You're on your way. For someone who's only been playing for a few months, you're very advanced." I ruffle his hair. "So what do you want me to play for you?"

"Can you play the longest song you know?"

I give him a look.

"Are you just saying that because you don't want to go do your work?" I ask, and he gives me a little mischievous grin.

"Maybe. But I also really just want to hear you play for as long as I can."

I can't help but let out a little laugh and smile at him.

"Okay. But only because you're my favorite student."

"I'm your ONLY student."

"That isn't important right now."

He laughs before I ready my hands and take a deep breath. Once I've thrown all other thoughts out, I dive right into the music and let myself be completely lost in it.

This moment has been much needed.

Although Cameron and I have been building our relationship back up and working on his anger issues, this past week has been absolutely chaotic.

He just got released from the infirmary three days ago, and his advisors have been on his butt the whole time. There was hardly a moment where he wasn't filling out papers or talking to one of them on the phone. I did my best to keep him company and to keep him calm. Although I think that he left the infirmary even more stressed than when he got put in there. And to make matters worse for him, he's still in pain, almost limping around because of the stab wounds on his legs that are still healing, and his advisors are still not giving him a break. He's almost constantly been in meetings since he got out. He's barely had the chance to breathe much less rest which is not helping the progress we're trying to make with his anger.

Plus, to add on top of all that, his advisors forced him to have an elimination THE SAME DAY he got out of the infirmary. So now, it's down to five of us, and all of us girls are stressed because being closer to the end means being closer to becoming Queen. So our Queen training has amped up significantly over the last few days.

So yeah.

It's been a lot to process recently.

But this moment right here. Getting to play my heart out and leave all of my worries and problems behind me is what I need.

And the little guy beside me also does a good job at cheering me up.

My hands fly over the keys as the song glides along, and it's almost like I can see the notes dancing in front of me, each one taking up the dance from the last one.